Ruby Amethyst is one of the best decks in the Lorcana Set 5 Shimmering Skies meta and a popular choice among many competitive players. The Red Purple deck can keep up with most of the meta field, adopting an aggressive plan to close out games as fast as possible. However, it does have control tools to interact with the opponent’s board and disrupt their plans.
Decklist
3 Be King Undisputed
3 Be Prepared
2 Elsa - The Fifth Spirit
4 Flynn Rider - Frenemy
4 Friends On The Other Side
3 Lady Tremaine - Imperious Queen
4 Madam Mim - Fox
4 Madam Mim - Snake
3 Madame Medusa - The Boss
4 Maui - Hero to All
4 Merlin - Crab
4 Merlin - Goat
4 Merlin - Rabbit
4 Minnie Mouse - Always Classy
4 Olaf - Friendly Snowman
4 Sisu - Emboldened Warrior
2 Sisu - Empowered SiblingHow to Play
The Ruby Amethyst wants to gain quick early Lore using Characters like Flynn Rider – Frenemy and Sisu – Emboldened Warrior. With the draw potential the deck has, you won’t easily run out of resources using cards like Friends on The Other Side, Merlin – Rabbit, and Maleficent – Sorceress.
The deck’s real strength lies in its bounce ability through Madam Mim – Snake and Madam Mim – Fox. The Ruby Amethyst deck has multiple cards that benefit from being bounced, activating one of their effects or at least allowing us to replay them to reactivate their effect. Cards like Merlin – Rabbit and Merlin – Goat can immediately give value once bounced to the hand.
Ruby is known for its control prowess, and this deck takes full advantage of that, including cards like Madam Medusa – The Boss, Lady Tremaine – Imperious Queen, and Be Prepared. The control cards are an essential part of the game plan so the opponent doesn’t get to take over the board and struggles to Banish your Characters and The Queen’s Castle – Mirror Chamber.
Lore Generation
Flynn Rider – Frenemy is the strongest turn two play we can have! As long as Flynn Rider – Frenemy is on the board along with a Character with higher Power than all opposing opponent’s Characters, we’ll gain 3 Lore at the start of each turn. So cards with high Power like Sisu – Emboldened Warrior and Maui – Hero to All are great to stand side by side with Flynn Rider – Frenemy to activate his effect.
We don’t want to Quest with Flynn Rider – Frenemy, since the 3 Lore generation is enough to pose a threat. An exerted Flynn Rider – Frenemy is an easy target for the opponent to Challenge and banish. We Quest with Flynn Rider – Frenemy on three occasions, we don’t believe the opponent can challenge an exerted Flynn Rider – Frenemy, we’re setting up the winning turn, and we want to play Be Prepared and remove the whole board.
If Flynn Rider – Frenemy remains Active, it forces the opposing player to find other means to remove him off the board.
Sisu – Emboldened Warrior generates 2 Lore when Questing, and being at 4 health, means it won’t be too easy to Banish. The more cards the opponent has, the more Power Sisu – Emboldened Warrior gains, capable of challenging high Willpower Characters. In most cases, we’ll prefer Questing with Sisu – Emboldened Warrior.
Bouncers
Madam Mim – Snake and Madam Mim – Fox are only playable if we have a target to bounce. We want to strategically bounce cards we gain value out of. Both cards have high stats, so they can be a problem for the opponent in the early game. Madam Mim – Fox has Rush, so she can Challenge on the turn she’s played and Banish an exerted Character.
We might be forced to Bounce a card like Chernabog’s Followers – Creatures of Evil if we feel the need to develop one of them on the board.
Best Bounce Value
Merlin – Rabbit is one of the most important cards in this deck for the draw potential he provides. On play and when he leaves play, Merlin – Rabbit will draw us a card, meaning if he gets Banished or Bounced we’ll get an extra draw. He’s a great target for your Madam Mim – Snake and Madam Mim – Fox to get that draw value.
Another card that benefits from the Bounce mechanic is Merlin – Goat, giving you 1 Lore when it returns to your hand and you can replay it for another Lore. Usually, we’ll bounce Merlin – Goat when we’re trying to gain the little Lore we need to win the game.
Early Removal
Be King Undisputed is a removal Song that is only powerful when opponent has valuable Characters to banish. We don’t have any agency once we play it, our opponent gets to choose which Character they want Banished. So this card shines if they only have powerful Characters or one Character and they’re forced to banish it.
We have a lot of 4-cost Characters like Merlin – Rabbit and Merlin – Goat that can Sing Be King Undisputed.
Late Game
Madam Medusa – The Boss is our strongest turn 6 play, removing a 3 Power or less Character. There are a lot of Characters that Madam Medusa – The Boss can hit, shifting the tides of the board in your favor. The downside is that Madam Medusa – The Boss only offers 1 Lore, she’s not presenting a win condition that compels the opponent to deal with her.
Lady Tremaine – Imperious Queen‘s effect is similar to Be King Undisputed, you’ll want to play her when the opposing player has no other choice but to Banish a strong Character.
Be Prepared is the strongest removal card in this deck, Banishing everything on the board, including your own Characters. So if we’re planning to play Be Prepared, we want to be mindful of what we’re playing the turn beforehand. We don’t want to lose valuable cards in the process.
The Queen’s Castle doesn’t get banished by Be Prepared, so we can play out our Location and follow it up with a Be Prepared on the upcoming turn, preventing the opponent from easily Challenging and Banishing The Queen’s Castle.
Other Cards to Talk About
Merlin – Crab boosts the Power of one of your Characters by +3 when Challenging. This is useful when trying to Banish a high-power character and synergizes with 1-cost Characters like Minnie Mouse – Always Classy and Olaf – Friendly Snowman who have low Power and don’t pose a threat on their own.
Maui – Hero to All is our strongest play on turn 5 if there’s a rested Character we want to Banish. The 6|5 stat-line is extremely valuable and synergizes with Flynn Rider – Frenemy to activate his Lore effect.
The Queen’s Castle can be tricky to play and we’re usually planning to drop it on the board when opponent doesn’t have the Character Power to Challenge and Banish it on the same turn. If it manages to stick on the board, it starts generating Lore for us and will draw you a card for each Character you have on it. Your opponent might be forced to Challenge and remove it, which slows down their Lore generation and could force them into having to choose between Challenging an exerted Character or your Location.
Late Gamers
Elsa – The Fifth Spirit brings a lot to the table on the turn she’s played. As an Evasive Character with Rush, she can Challenge immediately. Additionally, she exerts one of the opponent’s Characters, making it vulnerable to be Challenged by Elsa or another Character. Her ability to control the board, combined with her Evasive, makes her tough for the opponent to deal with.
Sisu – Empowered Sibling can be played on an earlier turn by shifting into Sisu – Emboldened Warrior. Through Sisu – Empowered Sibling‘s ability, you can banish all of the opponent’s Characters with 2 Power or less, making her effectiveness largely matchup-dependent. Additionally, she can Quest for 3 Lore, providing strong value in both control and Lore generation.
Mulligan
Inkable cards so we don’t end up in awkward turns where we have nothing to Ink.
Flynn Rider – Frenemy and Sisu – Emboldened Warrior are great cards to have for the early game. Merlin – Rabbit for the draw.
Keep Madame Medusa – The Boss for matchups where you want to remove a 3 Power or less Character.
Other Cards to Include
- Brawl is a tool to deal with any early threats with a Power of 2. We’d rather Sing it over spending the Ink to play so we can continue developing the board.
- Cogsworth – Illuminary Watchman can give one of your Characters Rush on the turn he’s played. So aim to combo him with cards like Merlin – Goat or Madam Mim – Snake who have high Power and can banish a rested Character if they challenge it.
- Magic Broom – Illuminary Keeper is another 1-cost Character for the early game who you can banish to draw a card if you don’t find use for him.
- Teeth and Ambitions is a low-cost damage song to remove any low Willpower Character that’s causing trouble. Flynn Rider – Frenemy or Diablo are targets we want to Banish immediately.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Ruby Amethyst can keep up with aggressive decks.
- It adapts to different matchups, either playing to go for a fast win or stretching out games and relying on more draws.
- Struggles against Emerald Steel if it discards its resources.